Health, Exercise, Sport Science to dedicate human performance lab

The Dr. Hank Cross Human Performance Lab is what industry leaders need to perform cutting-edge research in exercise and health science

The Dr. Hank Cross Human Performance Lab is what industry leaders need to perform cutting-edge research in exercise and health science.

The lab is a state-of-the-art facility that has more than doubled the exercise science research laboratory and teaching space in Deas Hall. At 1,400-square-feet, the lab has equipment for phlebotomy and exercise testing along with meeting space, offices, and locker room facilities.
“This new Human Performance Laboratory is what industry leaders need to perform cutting-edge research in exercise and health science,” said John Carter, head of the HESS department. “Our undergraduate and graduate students will enjoy greater involvement in exciting new research because this lab will provide many more opportunities for them to pursue special projects, do thesis work, present research findings, and publish results of research projects in collaboration with our professors.”

Bite Tech Inc. provided the $200,000 that was used to build the Human Performance Lab. Hank Cross is director of research at Bite Tech, a Minneapolis-based technology company dedicated to improving performance and health. The company recently partnered with Under Armour to release custom performance mouthwear.

HESS professor Dena Garner is one of several professors researching how mouthpieces used during sports and exercise affect athletic performance. The lab will created enhanced opportunities for the department and students to investigate how mouthpieces affect hormones and muscles in the body and, more specifically, the effect on pistol shooting accuracy.

“The research conducted in the laboratory is innovative and is making significant contributions in the dental and the exercise science research,” said Garner, who will direct the Cross lab.

Working with Garner on the research are HESS’s Wesley Dudgeon and Erica McDivitt, and Timothy Scheett, Department of Health and Human Performance at the College of Charleston.

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